


Sifu Hotpack

by Sees_writes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: And Toph knows it, Gaang (Avatar) as Family, Gen, Zuko as a heating pack, Zuko is a human heater, gaang bonding, gaang cuddling, sifu hotman, zuko cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27237382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sees_writes/pseuds/Sees_writes
Summary: After getting chased out of the Airtemple by Azula, the Gaang heads south. It is starting to get colder at night and finally a little Earthbender gets fed up with it. Thankfully they have a human heating pack traveling with them.(Edit: I did not expect this to get this many hits! Thank you to everyone!)
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 15
Kudos: 260





	Sifu Hotpack

Zuko was met with the smell of cooking spices as he and Sokka reentered camp. Katara was sorting through the supplies they had left while also working on dinner. There wasn’t much left. When Azula had attacked the group at the Air Temple, they had had no time to gather their supplies, so what had been already strapped to Appa was all they had. A few tents, some food, some cooking pots and utensils, and a few pairs of clothes. While Zuko and Katara had been off on their journey, the group had stopped at a town and bought some supplies but they didn’t have much money. 

Sokka and Zuko dropped the fish they had caught by Katara and she made a noise of approval. 

“So what's for dinner lil sis?” Sokka asked as he leaned over Katara’s shoulder to see.  
“Same as last night. Vegetable stew. Well we can add fish into ours.” She looked over their catch.  
“Uuuuuuugggghhhhh. We’ve had the same thing for like, ever.” Sokka groaned. “I need meat!”  
“Well you will have some tonight, now get out of here.” She hip checked him and shoved him out of the makeshift kitchen.  
“Ok fine, fine. I won’t get in the way of the food maker.” He tugged a strand of her hair as he left and she tried to smack him but he was out of her reach.

She shook her head and got back to cooking.

“Need any help?” Zuko asked her.

She looked up at him before glancing around.

“If you could skin the fish that would be wonderful.”

He quickly set about doing his task.

Ever since he had joined the group, he had made a special effort to do any chorus around the camp. For a group of people that had traveled the world and had evaded and fought the fire nation on multiple occasions, they weren’t that organized. Well Katara was organized and kept them for the most part in check. She was more than a little relieved when the firebender had shown up and started doing tasks around the camp. It was even better now that she had forgiven him because she felt less uptight all the time.

As they all sat around the fire and ate. They discussed little things that had come up like, where should they head to next, should they try to get more supplies, and who snores the loudest. They had been traveling south and the temperature was dropping lower and lower in the evening. Another thing that had been left behind were extra blankets. Sokka and Suki shared one, Toph didn’t use one and instead opted for an earth blanket, Aang didn’t need one, then Zuko and Katara each had one. 

A cool wind blew through camp and many of them shivered. The ones that looked the least annoyed were aang and the water tribe siblings. 

“Ha you guys ain’t seen nothin. In the winter, you can’t step outside in the winter without losing a limb to hypothermia.” Sokka proclaimed.  
“If you can even get outside.” Katara laughed.  
“What do you mean by that?” Suki asked.  
“Well the snow usually buries the houses so you couldn’t get outside if you wanted to. But it's dark most of the winter so you don’t want to.”  
“Oh I used to know someone that knew about that.” Aang piped up. “Doesn’t the sun not rise for a few days?”  
“Try a few weeks.” Soka replied.  
“What do you do then?” Toph asked. 

She could not imagine getting cooped up in a house made of ice for more than a few minutes.

“Sleep. Spend time with your family. Meditate. You find ways to entertain yourself.” Sokka said as he waved his hand about.  
“No thank you.” Toph stuck her tongue out in disgust.

Zuko couldn’t imagine it. Weeks without sun? No firebender in their right mind would want to get stuck in a situation like that. 

“Well I am tired so I think I am going to head off to bed.” Sokka said as he yawned and stood up.  
“Same here.” Suki agreed as she too stood up.

Katara and Zuko started collecting bowls as the others started to wander off to sleep. As soon as the dishes were cleaned and the fire was put out, Zuko laid down and wrapped the blanket around himself. As another cool breeze blew over him he let out a breath and rose his body temperature to fight the cold. He hadn’t had to do this in a while, not since the North Pole. He sighed happily as he warmed up and slowly drifted off to sleep.  
-  
“Zuko.” Someone whispered.  
“Zuko.” The voice whispered again.  
“Mmmg.”  
“Sifu hotman wake up.” He blinked awake and saw a figure standing over him.

He immediately shot into a sitting position with his hands up and ready to fire. A column of rock shot up to block his attack.

“Hey relax it’s just me!” The voice told him.  
“Toph?”  
“Yeah, stupid.” The rock dropped back to the ground and left the little Earthbender in front of him.  
He sighed and lowered his hands.  
“What is it Toph?”  
“It’s really cold.” She replied after a pause. “And we don’t have many blankets.”

Zuko watched as she wrung her hands and he raised his eyebrow.

“And?”  
“Can… can I sleep next to you.”

His eyes widened. 

She was now standing stock still, but he could see the blush creeping up her neck. He also picked up the way she was slightly shivering.

“Sure.” He said and raised the blanket for her.

She happily dove under and curled up close to him.

He carefully shifted the blanket so more of it covered her and he let his body temperature rise. The earthbender sighed happily before wrapping her cold arms around his arm. He froze as she nuzzled into his bicep.

Never, had he slept this close to anybody. Not in his childhood, not on his ship, and definitely not with Mai who liked her personal space. 

Toph did not miss the way his heartbeat quickened when she hugged his arm.  
Poor kids touch deprived, She thought. 

He slowly relaxed and Toph began to warm up. He felt Toph’s breathing begin to level out. Having the Earthbender this close to him made him realize how small she was. She had this presence that made it seem like she was the biggest person in the room, coupled with her bending, no one looked twice. In reality, she probably made it up to his chest in height. 

He was just starting to drift off again when another noise interrupted him.

“Toph how come you get to cuddle with Sifu Hotman?” The young monk’s bald head popped into Zuko’s view.  
“Because I was cold.” She answered tartly.  
“Mind if I join?” Aang asked.  
“Sure.” Toph answered before Zuko could say anything.  
“Thanks Zuko!” Aang said happily.  
“As if I had a say in it.” The prince muttered.

Aang curled up by Zuko’s legs, and Momo curled up on top of the blanket where Toph was. Zuko sighed and shifted so his good ear was facing towards the two younger benders. 

Is this how all parents feel?

It didn’t take long for Aang to be quietly snoring away. 

“Hey are you guys having a group cuddle session?” Came Sokka’s voice.

If Zuko could have thrown his head back and groaned he would have. 

“Yeah, we were cold and Zuko’s like a hot pack.” Toph replied.  
“It is pretty cold, and you suck at spooning.” Suki looked at Sokka before looking back at the benders. “Can we join?”  
“Sure! It’s group bonding!” Zuko could hear the smile in the Avatar’s voice.  
“I don’t suck at Spooning.” As all Sokka said as they laid down on Zuko’s left side by his legs.  
“Ooooh you are warm!” Suki exclaimed as they settled down. “Are all firebenders this warm?”  
“Well we can raise our body temperatures.” Zuko replied.  
“Airbenders can kind of do that too! We can warm up the air around us so we’re never cold!” Aang cried happily.  
“If you're not cold then why are you here?” Zuko muttered.  
“Because groups work better together when they cuddle!” Zuko sighed again, that was the best answer he was going to get.

With his free hand he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

Toph, who had been listening to their heartbeats smiled. As exasperated as Zuko sounded, he was secretly enjoying it.

They all finally settled back down. The only one missing was Katara. Zuko didn’t much expect her to come over, but with all the noise it would be a miracle if she was still asleep. 

Instead he thought back to the last person he had slept this close with. It was probably his Uncle when they had been traveling through the Earth Kingdom. He sighed as he thought about his Uncle. Where was he? How had he escaped? He hadn’t looked too good the last time Zuko had visited him. But the Dragon of the West had many Pi Shoa chips up his sleeve.

Zuko drifted off to sleep as he thought. 

He was awakened when he felt someone shifting in beside him on his scarred side. They were smaller and cold, with long hair, but Toph was still attached to his other arm. Without thinking much, he threw his arm over the new arrival and pulled them to his side. The new arrival gasped a little before happily huddling into his side. 

“Welcome Sugar Queen.” Toph muttered sleepily before burying her face back into Zuko’s arm.

Sugar Queen.

Sugar Queen = Katara.

He froze as he realized that he had just hugged to his side the person that had threatened to kill him just a few weeks ago. Well he had actually tried to kill her a few weeks before that so he guessed it was all relative.

Katara tucked her hands up to her chest and rested her head just under his shoulder. 

“You are really warm.” She muttered into his side, just loud enough for him to hear.  
“Thanks.” He mumbled back.

That’s how he fell asleep. 

He had an Earthbender wrapped around his arm, an airbender curled up by his legs, a Kyoshi warrior by his hip, the southern watertribe chief’s son huddled by his leg, and a water bender hugged to his side. Also a lemur-bat sprawled now across his stomach. 

He had never felt more at home.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one night because I just had to and now here I am posting it. First ATLA fic! How the heck has no one written about Zuko being a human hot pack yet?? This was partially inspired by a fan art piece I saw on Pinterest as well. Thanks for reading!


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